1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the handling of long products produced by a rolling mill, and is concerned in particular with the bundling of such products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As herein employed, the term “long products” is intended to include squares, flats, angles, channels, beams, and any other like products that are typically formed into layered bundles.
In the conventional bundling system, long products are delivered to a receiving station. A transport system then carries the products laterally to a stacker. In the course of being laterally carried, the products are subdivided into layers.
The stacker operates to transfer the layers individually into a cradle, where the layers are stacked to form a bundle. The bundle is then tied or strapped.
The stacker typically requires an average of about 12 seconds to transfer each layer into the cradle. This transfer cycle is substantially longer than the time it takes for the transport system to deliver successive product layers to the stacker. Thus, the stacker represents a bottleneck limiting the rate at which bundles can be formed by the bundling system.
The objective of the present invention is to relieve this bottleneck and thus increase the overall production rate of the bundling system.